Old Car insurance Advice

retroloose

Can anyone give me advice on getting insurance on my 1989 golf van, at present its insured with FBD the last four years, ive a full no claims bonus and im over 30 with no points or convictions. The van is my only vehicle and my insurance was 330 when i insured it first four years ago. My insurance was 400 last year after arguing why they keep trying to increase it with no results.

Ive just recieved my renewal in the post and they have all of a sudden changed my policy to Private from commercial and quoted me 584 euro.
Surely they cannot do this without notifying me as i use the van for commercial purposes with my job.

Can anyone give me good advice as i feel im being bullied off the road by this shower of crooks whom ive been loyal to for 12 years.

swarlb

retroloose wrote: »

Can anyone give me advice on getting insurance on my 1989 golf van, at present its insured with FBD the last four years, ive a full no claims bonus and im over 30 with no points or convictions. The van is my only vehicle and my insurance was 330 when i insured it first four years ago. My insurance was 400 last year after arguing why they keep trying to increase it with no results.

Ive just recieved my renewal in the post and they have all of a sudden changed my policy to Private from commercial and quoted me 584 euro.
Surely they cannot do this without notifying me as i use the van for commercial purposes with my job.

Can anyone give me good advice as i feel im being bullied off the road by this shower of crooks whom ive been loyal to for 12 years.

Am I reading this correctly....
You use the van for commercial purposes
You have it insured as a private vehicle
Your complaining that the insurance company want you to insure it commercially....
Or am I missing something ?

macplaxton

You've read it wrong swarlb, the key bit being "from" commercial.

The OP has had it commercially insured, but they've done a sneaky on his renewal and offered a higher price with different cover too.

Get on the phone and shop around. Loyalty matters zilch in the insurance game.

retroloose

swarlb wrote: »

Am I reading this correctly....
You use the van for commercial purposes
You have it insured as a private vehicle
Your complaining that the insurance company want you to insure it commercially....
Or am I missing something ?

Read the second paragraph carefully , its commercially insured

swarlb

retroloose wrote: »

Read the second paragraph carefully , its commercially insured

See it now, apologies.

corktina

it sounds like a mistake. Ask FBD. You should bear it in mind that if you are taxing it commercial , you can only use it for commercial. Maybe this has a bearing on the switch?

PS maybe this thread could be moved as it doesn't really relate to Classics

macplaxton

PS maybe it should stay as 1989 is 24 years old.

Hardly new, and at an age where it kind of falls into too old for some regular policies and too new for some classic policies. Regular policies seem to have vehicle age limits 10/15/20 years, so you might need to find a broker that can find one that doesn't have a vehicle age limit on it.

corktina

It's not too new for a classic policy however commercial use isn't allowed.

retroloose

corktina wrote: »

It's not too new for a classic policy however commercial use isn't allowed.

A classic policy is no problem if you have evidence of another car , but its my only vehicle, I tried every company that I know , campions , first, Carole Nash, autoline, axa they won't even quote for it .

macplaxton

Complain to FBD?
Complain to the Financial Ombudsman?
Refer to the "Declined Case Committee"?

retroloose

I just emailed them asking them to provide me with answers, i called them today and was told i would be called back about the issue, when called back i was told we have changed our policys and basically we will do the insurance for 530 instead of 584 but it will be private sorry about this , what a joke, that means i cannot tax it commercially as under new law you now need to provide evidence of your commercial policy for commercial tax. I tried to explain to the girl on the phone that my insurance on a 2005 golf van was only 290 euro with other companies and asked why it was so expensive, her answer was insurance has gone up. The funny thing is my brother has a vw car 1.6 diesel with fbd the same year and his insurance is 330.

I guess ill be taking your advice macplaxton i told them i will be taking it to their regulator if i dont get a reasonable explanation to this.

corktina

retroloose wrote: »

A classic policy is no problem if you have evidence of another car , but its my only vehicle, I tried every company that I know , campions , first, Carole Nash, autoline, axa they won't even quote for it .

SDP only on a classic policy...no commercial use...sorry to repeat myself

macplaxton

Corky, the OP appears to be insured for what looks to all intents and purposes as a regular commercial vehicle policy for the past four years. Pivotal to that is the fact that the van has aged from 20 to 24 year old.

Now whilst classic car insurance isn't an option, it should be possible to insure a older van in some way for the intended use.

So OP, get something written from the current insurer and other insurers declining you. You'll be able to get it insured some way, just might have to jump through a few hoops.

corktina

macplaxton wrote: »

Corky, the OP appears to be insured for what looks to all intents and purposes as a regular commercial vehicle policy for the past four years. Pivotal to that is the fact that the van has aged from 20 to 24 year old.

Now whilst classic car insurance isn't an option, it should be possible to insure a older van in some way for the intended use.

So OP, get something written from the current insurer and other insurers declining you. You'll be able to get it insured some way, just might have to jump through a few hoops.

see my post 6

Cleveland Hot Pocket

retroloose wrote: »

I just emailed them asking them to provide me with answers, i called them today and was told i would be called back about the issue, when called back i was told we have changed our policys and basically we will do the insurance for 530 instead of 584 but it will be private sorry about this , what a joke, that means i cannot tax it commercially as under new law you now need to provide evidence of your commercial policy for commercial tax. I tried to explain to the girl on the phone that my insurance on a 2005 golf van was only 290 euro with other companies and asked why it was so expensive, her answer was insurance has gone up. The funny thing is my brother has a vw car 1.6 diesel with fbd the same year and his insurance is 330.

I guess ill be taking your advice macplaxton i told them i will be taking it to their regulator if i dont get a reasonable explanation to this.

What law is this?
Doesn't exist as I have taxed a vehicle commercially and had it insured for SDP only. In the past couple of months.

corktina

I'm not sure that's right either. You cannot tax it unless it's CVRTd but you don't have to have commercial insurance to tax it, just valid insurance.

Cleveland Hot Pocket

corktina wrote: »

I'm not sure that's right either. You cannot tax it unless it's CVRTd but you don't have to have commercial insurance to tax it, just valid insurance.

Don't even need valid insurance.
Select a company, write 001 as the policy number on the form, job's oxo.

I don't get where people think commercial tax is hard to obtain. All you need is the signed declaration and the valid CVRT.

retroloose

Cleveland Hot Pocket wrote: »

What law is this?
Doesn't exist as I have taxed a vehicle commercially and had it insured for SDP only. In the past couple of months.[/QUOT
Found this on cork co motor tax website.
For first time taxing of a goods vehicle by an applicant:

Goods vehicles that have a Gross Vehicle Weight of 3500kgs or less require a completed Form RF 111A - Goods Declaration Form. It requires an applicant who is applying for a vehicle to be taxed at the goods rate to provide a Revenue registration identity number to confirm that he or she has a business registered for tax purposes. All applicants should be asked to complete this form and be made aware that if the vehicle is used in any private capacity it must be taxed at the private rate. Proof of commercial insurance shall also be required with each application.

AxA asked me for my vat number for a commercial quote yesterday .

Cleveland Hot Pocket

retroloose wrote: »

Cleveland Hot Pocket wrote: »

What law is this?
Doesn't exist as I have taxed a vehicle commercially and had it insured for SDP only. In the past couple of months.

Found this on cork co motor tax website.
For first time taxing of a goods vehicle by an applicant:

Goods vehicles that have a Gross Vehicle Weight of 3500kgs or less require a completed Form RF 111A - Goods Declaration Form. It requires an applicant who is applying for a vehicle to be taxed at the goods rate to provide a Revenue registration identity number to confirm that he or she has a business registered for tax purposes. All applicants should be asked to complete this form and be made aware that if the vehicle is used in any private capacity it must be taxed at the private rate. Proof of commercial insurance shall also be required with each application.

AxA asked me for my vat number for a commercial quote yesterday .

Said the same on the kildare co co website, but I only handed in the motor tax form with the details on it, and the RF111a signed by a gaurd (who didnt look at the form at all before stamping), and it had my PPS number in the vat number section.

I couldn't give proof of commercial insurance (car is insured privately, classic insurance), or proof of a business registered for tax purposes (I'm only a private individual)

corktina

A false declaration is quite a serious offence if it all goes pear-shaped on you though. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should be doing it

Cleveland Hot Pocket

corktina wrote: »

A false declaration is quite a serious offence if it all goes pear-shaped on you though. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should be doing it

Me and the thousands of others!

swarlb

Cleveland Hot Pocket wrote: »

Me and the thousands of others!

Brilliant !! Once more the 'Oirish' tradition of bending, warping, ignoring and generally abusing the system continues.....
Now if I could just figure out a way of insuring my '06 recovery truck as a private vehicle, on a classic policy, with commercial tax and listed as 'farm vehicle' so's I can use green diesel....and all while claiming the dole, and getting a vat number to claim back vat, getting my house re-listed as a mobile (to escape the water charges), and finding a suitable neck brace to allow me to park in a disabled space.......

corktina

Cleveland Hot Pocket wrote: »

Me and the thousands of others!

yes, you and thousands of others. But there are hundreds of thousands of persons not pulling stunts like this. The quantity of people breaking the Law doesn't have any effect on making it more or less acceptable.

Cleveland Hot Pocket

swarlb wrote: »

Brilliant !! Once more the 'Oirish' tradition of bending, warping, ignoring and generally abusing the system continues.....
Now if I could just figure out a way of insuring my '06 recovery truck as a private vehicle, on a classic policy, with commercial tax and listed as 'farm vehicle' so's I can use green diesel....and all while claiming the dole, and getting a vat number to claim back vat, getting my house re-listed as a mobile (to escape the water charges), and finding a suitable neck brace to allow me to park in a disabled space.......

You can't use green diesel on the road anyway.
I don't have a vat number nor am I on the dole, nor do I abuse disabled spaces.

Typical begrudger's attitude there. IMO

Cleveland Hot Pocket

corktina wrote: »

yes, you and thousands of others. But there are hundreds of thousands of persons not pulling stunts like this. The quantity of people breaking the Law doesn't have any effect on making it more or less acceptable.

I don't think I've seen ever, a commercial vehicle taxed privately when the CC rate was much more expensiive.

333 v 1809 in my case.

swarlb

Cleveland Hot Pocket wrote: »

You can't use green diesel on the road anyway.
I don't have a vat number nor am I on the dole, nor do I abuse disabled spaces.

Typical begrudger's attitude there. IMO

Well, I've seen plenty of tractors 'on the road', saw one just yesterday 'on the M7'.
I personally don't care what you do, are, have or don't have. All I was commenting on was the way we seem to have of 'getting around things'.
I pay commercial insurance, I pay commercial road tax, if there was a way I could avoid paying these (legally) I'd do it today, and everyone would as well.

Cleveland Hot Pocket

swarlb wrote: »

Well, I've seen plenty of tractors 'on the road', saw one just yesterday 'on the M7'.
I personally don't care what you do, are, have or don't have. All I was commenting on was the way we seem to have of 'getting around things'.
I pay commercial insurance, I pay commercial road tax, if there was a way I could avoid paying these (legally) I'd do it today, and everyone would as well.

Fine.

unkel

@retroloose - is your car(van) used strictly for your business only? If so you should be able to tax and insure it commercially.

If you use it privately (even only once in a while), it's a private vehicle. You should pay private tax and insure it privately. Really as simple as that. You can only tax it commercially if you have signed a waiver that you only use it commercially. If this is not the case, you're committing fraud, which is a serious offence (in a different league completely compared to not paying your taxes)

Have you a partner with private insurance on his / her vehicle? Some insurers will let you insure your (20+ or 25+ year old) car(van) as a classic once you're a named driver on your partners vehicle

corktina

unkel wrote: »

@retroloose - is your car(van) used strictly for your business only? If so you should be able to tax and insure it commercially.

If you use it privately (even only once in a while), it's a private vehicle. You should pay private tax and insure it privately. Really as simple as that. You can only tax it commercially if you have signed a waiver that you only use it commercially. If this is not the case, you're committing fraud, which is a serious offence (in a different league completely compared to not paying your taxes)

Have you a partner with private insurance on his / her vehicle? Some insurers will let you insure your (20+ or 25+ year old) car(van) as a classic once you're a named driver on your partners vehicle

...but you can't then use it commercially....